Kudos to Big Brother

By now you've probably heard about the parents who are refusing to get their son treatment for his cancer (you can read the full story here). There are many aspects of this story that make me literally shake with anger: parental neglect, religious indoctrination, selfishness, and plain stupidity. But it's this quote that caught my eye: "I feel it's a blow to families," he said. "It marginalizes the decisions that parents face every day in regard to their children's medical care. It really affirms the role that big government is better at making our decisions for us." All I can say is, hooray for big government!

In these situations, I'm glad we have a government that does on occasion stick its nose into our personal business. I respect an individual's decision to refuse medical treatment for him or herself for any reason. However, when it comes to parents subjecting their children to those same beliefs without that child really knowing the alternatives (in this case, life and death), I'm all for government, big or small, intervening and saying, "You're wrong."

The government IS often better at making decisions for us. Individuals are motivated by self-interest so they can't always be trusted to make the right decisions for someone else, even their children. Add the cloud of irrationality that is religion and you get people who need the cold, emotionless rule of law to keep them in check. Otherwise they end up hurting themselves and others.

I believe in my government, and I'm glad to have it looking out for me and for the children of whackos. It doesn't always do the right thing, it can be corrupted, and on more than one occasion I've tossed my hands up in despair of it. In the end, however, I know it's good, and in this particular case, I couldn't be more proud of it.